Motions

Malinauskas, Hon. Peter

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (10:59): It is with great pleasure that I move:

That this council welcomes the Hon. Peter Malinauskas, elected by an assembly of members of both houses to replace the Hon. Bernie Finnigan, resigned.

It is the intention of this motion to enable the new member to deliver his inaugural address, but it is also an opportunity for me and others to congratulate the Hon. Peter Malinauskas on this appointment. In common with his family and friends gathered in the gallery, I share in the pleasure of seeing this new member of the Legislative Council taking his place on these benches.

Peter's life experiences have prepared him well for his new career. I understand that in his teenage years, working in a supermarket, he was drawn to the role of shopfloor union representative. His sharp intelligence and drive resulted in a job visiting supermarket night-fill workers as an SDA union rep. Such jobs are the front line of the Labor movement, dealing one-on-one with the realities of modern working life, and they are a forge for the creation of strong Labor values.

Peter obviously embraced those values with passion and determination, and it is not surprising that he soon emerged as a young leader for the shoppies (the SDA) going on to become the union secretary for seven years. I have no doubt that Peter's conviction and clear sense of purpose will prove to be a powerful asset to the Weatherill government and I look forward to working with him, and today hearing his inaugural address.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (11:00): At some point in the late 1930s in regional Hungary a 20-year-old widowed mother named Eta was left little choice but to temporarily leave her daughter with extended family while she sought work at a nearby town. It was a fateful moment.

As World War II mercilessly engulfed Europe, Eta quickly found herself caught in the web of the war. Moved from camp to camp as forced labour for the Nazis, no parent could bear to imagine the pain, frustration and sense of desperation that Eta must have felt as every avenue to get back to her daughter was closed.

Despite multiple efforts to return to Hungary, by the war's end Eta had been stuck in a German munitions factory. As the Nazi regime collapsed and Eta closed that chapter of her life, her ambition for reunification with her daughter was again thwarted, this time by another peril in the form of communism. Having had her sole possession, a single bike, confiscated by the Russians at a key roadblock, Eta was again turned around and sent back to Germany.

Stuck in a foreign land, homeless, stateless, poor and with no prospect of seeing her daughter again, the Iron Curtain had fallen sharply and heavily on this young woman's hopes and aspirations. With literally nothing to lose, Eta put her hand up to participate in the Australian Displaced Persons' group resettlement scheme. On 20 February 1949, she boarded the US Army transport USS General Omar Bundy, bound for a young and free great southern land.

On the month-long journey with plenty to fuel thoughts of despair the only relief Eta could find from the heartache was in the form of work—and work she did—peeling potatoes all the way from Naples to Sydney. Soon after arriving at an immigration camp at Bathurst, she met another displaced person fleeing the tyranny of communism, a Lithuanian named Peter. Not one for inaction, Peter rapidly persuaded Eta that, at the first opportunity, she should get to South Australia where he was going to be working and they would marry. Peter was despatched to Woodside, South Australia, and disjointed communication between the pair ensued for nine months before an agreed meeting time and place was arranged.

Having acquired a small amount of savings from the potato peeling and the work performed on arrival, Eta was going to leave nothing to chance at her next encounter with the strapping Lithuanian, and decided to dress to impress. For the first time in years she lashed out and bought a brand-new outfit including a hat and furs. The rest of the savings went on the airfare to Adelaide.

Eta arrived in Adelaide at the agreed time in the said new outfit only to find no-one to greet her. The strapping Litho had stood her up. Now total despair sets in. She is at Parafield Airport, hours have passed and years of tragedy, toil and torment have now collided with heartbreak. Not able to speak English, stuck with nowhere to go, in utterly unfamiliar surroundings she sits on her suitcase and quietly weeps as hopelessness takes over.

Then, just as the young woman's instinct for perseverance was about to extinguish, Peter arrives at Parafield Airport in a taxi full of gladiolus. The actual meeting time had been temporarily lost in translation. The young couple who had fled tyranny with nothing to their name quickly got married and got to work building a new life.

This is not a story about my paternal grandparents. It is not a story about the 785 other people who boarded the General Omar Bundy with grandma. It is not even a story about the 170,000 other displaced people who arrived under the Chifley-Calwell initiated scheme. Indeed, this is a story about a young state in an even younger nation whose infectious optimism about the future gave it the courage to be open to new people looking for one thing above all else: opportunity, the same sort of opportunity our first resettlers sought 112 years earlier and the exact same sort of opportunity new arrivals to our shores seek today.

I distinctly remember as a young boy standing in the old fish and chip shop my grandfather built with his own bare hands on Trimmer Parade in Seaton as he told me about the importance of taking opportunities. An equally clear memory is of the time I inquired about him becoming an Australian citizen and grandpa quickly rushing off to retrieve his naturalisation certificate. I cannot picture the certificate but I can still feel the depth of meaning it had to him as a symbol of the opportunity this nation and this state had afforded Eta and himself.

The desire of my grandparents, including Bob and Ursula May from my mum's side, to seek, seize and share opportunity, even in the face of real hardship, has undoubtedly influenced my politics, although I do say this with some caution since I certainly cannot claim a long lineage of unwavering support for Labor—not at all. Instead, I only seek to hold true to the value of opportunity that my family has sought to instil in me, a high value that I am sure is shared by everyone who works in this place.

However, the role of government in providing opportunity is often the source of legitimate debate. Some argue that government should simply get out of the way and let hard work be the defining variable of who gets what opportunity—a virtuous notion, yes, but who defines what is hard work? Come knock off, has the architect really worked harder than the brickies labourer? Has the nurse been any less devoted than the doctor? Has the school principal actually inspired more students than the teacher?

I do not question differences in the monetary value of work performed; rather, I simply argue that monetary value is not the only test of the efficacy or virtue of the work. No matter how smart or simple, skilled or unskilled, well paid or low paid, no-one has a monopoly on hard work, least of all any one side of politics. Of course hard work must be key to getting ahead, but opportunity should not disproportionately elude those who do work hard, just at a lower rate of pay.

In Australia it has always been a balance between capital and labour that has driven our prosperity and relatively fair distribution of opportunity. It is a balance that I think most believe is worth preserving, yet it always seem to find itself under attack.

At a time when the Australian Bureau of Statistics tells us that labour productivity has had 24 consecutive quarters of growth, that real wages have never before been increasing at such low levels and that the profit share of our economy is at some of the highest levels ever recorded, I find it utterly astounding that conservatives argue that we should be cutting the wages of full-time workers earning less than $38,000 a year.

When I started working at Woolies, Mitcham as a 15 year old, I became a member of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association. Back in 1995 closed shops (which I do not support) still existed so I became a member of the shoppies not really knowing what it meant.

When I filled out that membership card 20 years ago, I was no left-wing militant unionist who believed capital was evil, and I am pleased to inform the house that that has never changed. What I suspected as a 15 year old and know now is that working people do need a professional and strong voice to ensure their hard work provides the opportunity they have earned. Furthermore, this is more likely to be achieved through embracing the idea of free enterprise than opposing it.

Thankfully, when I joined the shoppies, I was signing up to an organisation that had been fighting for these ideals against both the left and the right long before I was born. So when Don Farrell offered me the chance to work at the SDA, he did not offer me a job, he offered me an opportunity to start a vocation at my natural political home. Don, to you, Nimfa and your adorable family, I simply say thank you for giving me that opportunity and your unwavering support ever since.

There are many others from the SDA I would like to thank, but none more so than the 28,000-plus members from South Australia, the Northern Territory and Broken Hill. There is enormous dignity in the work of retail, fast-food and DC workers, and the SDA members transcend order and virtue for signing up not because it is in their interests but because it is in the interests of others. The SDA has a great team working tirelessly for others more than themselves. I want to acknowledge the whole committee of management, including Harris Scarfe stalwart and SDA president Lyn Rivers; Donald Blairs and Aemon Bourke for their commitment; and Josh Peak for his tenacity and dynamism (he is one to watch).

Most significantly, I want to acknowledge Sonia Romeo. Sonia is one of life's great gems and simply one of the best people I know. I value her support, loyalty and friendship, as much as I admire her undying commitment to SDA members. I have always been better with Sonia by my side. Now retail workers will be better off with Sonia by theirs.

I would like to thank my parliamentary colleagues for your warm welcome in recent days. I particularly acknowledge my fellow caucus members. The privilege of being in the Australian parliamentary Labor Party team is not lost on me, and I look forward to working with you all. I would like to thank the Premier for his support and encouragement to take up this position. The Premier is doing an outstanding job leading our state in a challenging environment, and I admire his willingness to pursue bold reform.

The Treasurer, and my friend, Tom Koutsantonis, has been incredibly generous to me since I first waited on him at a party fundraiser back in 2001. While I regret admitting to Tom that I was nervous when I first met him, I certainly do not regret the meeting. Anastasios, thanks for all your guidance.

There are others who have been there from the start, including Amanda Rishworth MP, one of the hardest workers I know; Michael Brown, who I hope will make a significant contribution to the parliament in the future; and Reggie Martin, a great innovator in an important office, who understands geometry better than most, particularly the triangle. With his deep understanding of our great party and its history, Nick Champion has also been a steadfast source of advice and friendship. Other union leaders I would like to acknowledge include Ray Wyatt, John Camillo, John Adley, Jason Hall, Dave Gray, Dave Di Troia and Joe Szakacs. I enjoy working with all of you.

I have a great group of friends outside the labour movement, whose mateship is deeply valued and grounding. I would love to get all their names onto the record, but some of the nicknames would be far too hard to explain to Hansard. However, Bob Neill obviously requires no such explanation.

There are a number of my extended family members present in the gallery whom I would like to thank for coming along, including my parents-in-law, Rob and Vickianne West, who are a great support. I do have to make a specific mention of Rob West: a very good man, but there is not a Labor bone in his body. Rob, this is the chamber where all the deals get done and the negotiations take place. In that spirit, I would like to make you an offer: I will never ask you to vote for Labor if you never ask your granddaughter to barrack for the Crows. Have a think about it.

I am not sure any child could be more indebted to their parents than I am to mine: Peter and Kate Malinauskas. With my beautiful sister Liz and ever-generous brother Rob, I grew up in what could only be described as the middle-class family dream. Mum has always had a commitment to us kids and a sense of compassion that knows no bounds.

My father worked at the Housing Trust for over 35 years. With a constant eye to the taxpayers' interests, Dad devoted himself to an organisation putting roofs over the heads of those who need it most. If my record of public service is as committed and honest as Dad's, then I will be proud to say so. I will be even prouder if I am as good a father as he has been to me. Mum, Dad, Liz and Rob: I love you deeply and thank God for the blessing of everything you have ever done for me.

Annabel Malinauskas, who I am lucky to call my wife, is the hardest working and smartest woman I know. With grace, class and poise, she takes everything in her stride. But, Bel, it is your enormous and tender heart, radiating warmth to all that you meet, that I love most. Like everything else I have done over the last seven years, I cannot imagine giving this speech without you in the room, which makes this moment as much yours as it is mine. I adore you and thank you.

The reason why anyone takes up elected office is because they want to make a contribution to the betterment of our society. It is a broad objective, but having a seven-month-old daughter sharpens that focus. Like any parent, I want my daughter Sophie to grow up in a community with a standard of living that is great and affords her as many opportunities as she deserves. South Australia is that place. Clearly, we are in some challenging times, but let us consider some known truths: gross state product is still growing, our population is still rising, and yesterday we learned that state final demand is up. There is still upside in our economy.

More than this, I do not know too many South Australians who are not quick to say how great a place it is to raise a family. Even the Economist Intelligence Unit has Adelaide as the fifth best city in the whole entire world to live. I am not denying the economic challenges we face. I have looked into the eyes of workers who have just had their hours cut, and few things are more gut-wrenching. So, of course we must do more and work hard to lower unemployment, but ambition has to start with belief. No-one has ever achieved great things without believing in themselves first. This state can offer as much opportunity to every young South Australian as it did to my grandparents 65 years ago, but none of that is possible until, as a community, we believe that any adversity will be overcome.

Understandably, with significant challenges comes an appetite for simple solutions, but we should acknowledge that, with capital becoming ever more mobile, our economy is far more complex now than it was only 30 years ago. Therefore, the necessary reforms are becoming more complex, requiring an elevation of the political discourse beyond the latest 'gotcha' moment and 140 characters in a tweet. The public rightly look to politicians for a higher standard, but each of us must remember that the highest office in any democracy is the office of citizen. Some cynicism is healthy, but apathy is never okay. If we are serious about wanting principled policy over popular politics, then more needs to be done to ensure all citizens see voting not just as a right but also a responsibility.

Friends, I understand convention has it that interjections from other honourable members are frowned upon during one's inaugural speech, so I must confess I am tempted to bask in the moment and unleash the fury with some thundering prose laden with ideology. If I were to engage in such an exercise, I would attempt to square up equally with the far-right Liberal Party as I would with the far-left Green party.

There is a reason why the Labor Party is now under full attack on both our political left and right flanks. It is because we now occupy the middle ground. I am a Labor man because I believe our grand old party understands that more of the right opportunities are created through a balance. Markets are efficient, but not infallible; government is necessary, but rarely extraordinary; and free enterprise should flourish, as long as it is fair. I appreciate that what constitutes the right balance is often subjective, so I am more interested in outcomes than ideological purity. However, I do want to publicly commit myself to pursuing a balance that best creates opportunities for all and, more specifically, commit to this in the context of the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who said:

The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

That is my test. That is our test. I hope we succeed.

Motion carried.